Load of back-to-back games drags down Spurs' record

0 Comments | USA TODAY, March, 2006 | by David DuPree

Back-to-back games are the dread of NBA teams, though a necessary evil in an 82-game schedule.

Only six teams have a winning record in the second game of back-to-back contests -- the Detroit Pistons, Phoenix Suns, Miami Heat, Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls and Utah Jazz. The most notable team not on that list is the San Antonio Spurs, the team with the NBA's second-best record.

The Spurs are 49-14 but only 4-8 in the second game of back-to-backs, putting them in the bottom fourth of the league in that category.

"I can't understand, just because it's a back-to-back," said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili. "Every team does them, and probably nobody is as bad as us. One guy can be tired. Two, maybe. But the whole team?"

Part of the problem with the Spurs in...